oreos, mailmen, secrets

Last week I was on a walk in my ugg boots when my boyfriend and I crossed paths with our mailman. And he was doing something crazy. He was opening a mailbox..You might be thinking this is “normal”… but the type of mailbox he was opening was something I had never seen opened before. It was that large grey/green type of post box, that sometimes sits next to their more famous, some might say better looking, cousin – the blue USPS box.

Well, the mailman opens the mysterious mailbox, and sitting there, perched on a shelf, are two boxes of golden oreos. I stop dead in my tracks. “OREOS?!!!” I exclaim. Aaron keeps walking. The mailman clocks me. “What are those oreos doing there?!!!!” I scream at him. I’ve been struck by delight. Which has a lot of the same effects as being struck by lightning. So I can’t be held accountable for the pitch or volume of my voice at this time. “They’re my afternoon snack! Do you want some?” Aaron’s halfway down the block. I’m experiencing the purest form of platonic connection a girl can hope to experience. “Oh my god I’m okay but oh my god thank you! I have just never seen the inside of those post boxes before. Can you just keep items in there?” “Yeah! Like my afternoon snack!”  At this point, I’m ready to run away with him. But the light is turning, and our coffee was pre-ordered.

I quickly notice that inside this secret cubby, there are also stacks of mail and those boxes that you’re not allowed to keep. I mostly included that sentence so that if the postmaster general finds my substack and tries to get mad that my perfect mailman keeps golden oreos in the grey type of mailboxes I can say “But he also keeps the normal work stuff in there!”

Now as I drive through the city, I’m confronted with the realization that there are little boxes of afternoon snacks at nearly every intersection. Right across from Aaron and I’s favorite ramen restaurant. On the corner where I always see that big black and white spotted dog. The corner where I turn around on my semi-frequent .5 mile runs (hold for applause). The whole city is a hide-and-seek landscape for boxes of cookies, personal treasures, items too heavy to carry up the hill.

Something I like to ask people is this: What’s a topic you know a lot about, but never end up getting asked about? (I also ask people what is your earliest childhood memory but that one is kind of hit or miss). You’d be surprised at what specific answers you get to such a specific question. There’s a lot we don’t know about because we forget to ask. Or don’t care to. The light is turning. Our coffee is preordered. The bell rang! But I think a lot of the time it is worth missing the light. Reheating the coffee in the microwave (sue me). I try to engage with life this way. Always looking out for the golden oreo, hidden behind a mailbox with no clear way in.

And lastly, I’ll leave you with a list I made late last night of ideas for my substack. Find it below:

1. golden oreos in the mailman’s mailbox (check!)

2. Q and A with myself

More soon.